The scrawny Old Kai hollered at the top of his lungs in the middle of the Sacred World of the Kai, utterly oblivious to everyone around him — he looked completely unhinged.
Shin glanced over at Ino and the Grand Supreme Kai and lowered his voice. "Who is this old man, exactly?"
The plump Grand Supreme Kai studied him for a moment, not entirely certain. "Going by the robes, he should be a proper Supreme Kai — but I genuinely don't recognize him."
Ino made a show of searching her memory before recounting the Old Kai's identity to them both.
"Ancestor!" Shin dropped into a deep bow on the spot. The Grand Supreme Kai followed suit, kneeling in reverence. The Old Kai was Shin's predecessor — and therefore his elder as well — though not by anything close to seventy-five million years.
The Old Kai, whose appetite for lewdness could rival Master Roshi's, was thoroughly pleased with himself. He rolled up his sleeves, baring his stringy arms, and launched into a wild boast about how he'd been sealed away because someone had feared his "terrifying abilities."
"Hm??" He was still basking in his juniors' reverent bows when he suddenly caught sight of Ino. The combination of a child-like appearance with Supreme Kai robes stirred something familiar in the back of his mind. He vaguely recalled that a friend of his dressed just like that. What was that friend's name again?
"And you are...?" he asked.
With Shin present, Ino didn't want to drag too many outsiders into the war between the Supreme Kai of Time and the Demon Realm Supreme Kai. The deities who wielded Time Power were their own closed circuit — matters within that circle were best resolved by those within it.
She gave a deliberately vague answer. "Greetings, Senior. I'm Kuronoa's successor."
"Kuronoa?" He'd been sealed away for so long that his memory had gone a bit hazy. He tilted his head and thought for a long while before the name of this friend finally surfaced.
Ino was speechless. You called her a friend, but you two weren't actually that close, were you?
Kuronoa was, in truth, an extremely serious and rule-abiding Supreme Kai, while the Old Kai was a textbook lecherous old devil. That these two had ever become friends at all was something of a miracle. Ino's best guess was that it had to do with the loli figure — one look at that build and any such thoughts simply evaporated...
"Senior, what we need right now is—" Ino hadn't even finished her sentence before the Old Kai, like someone staging a phony accident, snapped his eyes shut and toppled face-first to the ground with a dramatic thud.
"Owww, my headache is acting up again — it hurts so much — I'm dying, I'm really dying, I truly cannot go on!"
Ino: "...?"
Are you and Kuronoa really friends? You're barely acquaintances at best.
The Old Kai had gone full dead-fish, playing dead and refusing to engage. The words Ino had been about to say died in her throat.
This old geezer had made it crystal clear he wanted no part of this. What was she supposed to do now?
Fortunately, there was one person on the scene who had absolutely no talent for reading the room.
Watching the old man go down stiff as a board, Kibito sprang into action with great excitement. "Lord Old Kai! Allow me to treat you!"
Without waiting for so much as a nod from the Old Kai, he slapped one enormous fan-like hand onto the old man's chest. A great surge of green life energy instantly flooded through the frail body, sweeping away every chronic ailment that had accumulated over years of being sealed.
Feeling his treatment hadn't been thorough enough, Kibito puffed and strained, heedless of the energy cost, and performed two more full-powered sessions.
The Old Kai's face was now flushed with a healthy glow. There was simply no faking dead anymore.
Ino folded her arms, watching his little performance with a half-smile. Go ahead, keep acting — I dare you.
The scrawny old man was furious. He unleashed a torrent of abuse at Kibito. "Get away from me! What do you think you're doing?! You nearly crushed these old bones of mine! The young people these days are so reckless!"
He ranted and raved for another ten minutes.
Then Ino produced a collector's edition photo book of Samui, and just like that, the Old Kai became her dearest confidant who had nothing left to hide.
Among a village of ninjas tanned dark by the sun, a kunoichi like Samui — pale-skinned, beautiful, long-legged, and generously proportioned — was, without question, gifted beyond ordinary measure.
The Old Kai's eyes glazed over. He was practically drooling.
"Ancestor, please be mindful of your dignity!" Shin kept reminding him to uphold the gravitas befitting a Supreme Kai — but at this point such reminders carried absolutely no weight whatsoever.
The old man was beyond reach.
Ino then produced a thick stack of volumes — three full sets of the Make-Out Paradise series, upper, middle, and lower volumes — and handed them over.
After flipping through just two pages, the Old Kai clutched them like a man who'd found buried treasure. The young people these days really knew how to have fun — not only were there pictures, there were fully immersive stories to go with them! He was in love, absolutely in love!
There were too many books to get through all at once. Just as he was looking around for a quiet spot to settle in and savor them at leisure, he remembered there was still a troublesome matter right in front of him that needed his attention.
He cleared his throat with an air of self-importance. "Very well, very well — Kuro-Loroa is indeed a dear friend of mine..."
"Kuronoa."
"Right, right — Kuro-Kwoa."
Ino gave up. "...Kuronoa. Whatever. Call her whatever you like, Senior."
The doddering old man simply could not hold onto the former Supreme Kai of Time's name. He hadn't laid eyes on her in tens of millions of years — how was anyone supposed to remember a name after that long? He could only fumble his way through it.
"Young Supreme Kai of Time," he began, "rescuing someone is ultimately something only you can do yourself. I'm old — no real fighting ability left — but my terrifying power was never about muscle. It is rather..."
He paused for effect. "...that I can help you unlock your Potential Unleashed. Far, far beyond your own limits. I can see it clearly — your potential is immense. With my divine power, I can stimulate it, then amplify and unleash it tens or even hundreds of times over. Impressive, isn't it?"
"It genuinely is," Ino agreed with a nod.
She had her own Potential Unleashed-type skills, but they'd always been low-level — no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to raise them. Her aptitude in that area was simply limited.
The Old Kai was willing to help her unlock her potential, and she had no objection whatsoever. She stood still where she was. Let's begin.
Ino was no Son Gohan staring blankly into space. She knew this process would take a very long time. Watching the Old Kai ball up his fists, contort himself into bizarre poses, and begin circling her clockwise, she simply sat down on the ground, settled into a light meditative state, and cooperated with the Potential Unleashed procedure.
"Hmmm-HA-HEY!"
"HA-HA-HEY-HEY!"
"HEY-HEY-HEY-HA!"
Shin, Kibito, and the Grand Supreme Kai all stared blankly. What on earth was the Ancestor doing? This was a rather unique method of unlocking potential...
The Grand Supreme Kai thought it over for a few seconds, then simply sat down right where he was, produced a plate of grilled meat, and watched the show while he ate.
Shin felt that sitting down so casually might be a touch disrespectful, so he remained standing ramrod-straight, watching the whole spectacle with the expression of someone who had completely lost the plot.
The Old Kai circled around Ino again and again. By the time even Kibito was starting to feel dizzy, Shin couldn't hold back any longer. "Ancestor, this Potential Unleashed procedure... how long does it take, exactly?"
The old man was working up quite a sweat from all the circling, and was now gasping for breath. "The ritual takes five hours — and the actual ability development takes twenty!"
Shin stood rooted to the spot in stunned silence. After a long while, he leaned over and whispered to Kibito beside him, "It would be rude if we didn't stay and watch... right?"
Red-faced Kibito looked thoroughly helpless. "...Probably, yes."
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